Tristan Hambling

"Science fiction has long inspired real-world technology, but are the authors of sci-fi stories finally running out of steam? PC Pro has traced the history of sci-fi's influence on real-world technology, from Jules Verne to Snow Crash, but suggests that writers have run out of ideas when it comes to inspiring tomorrow's products. 'Since Snow Crash, no novel has had quite the same impact on the computing world, and you might argue that sci-fi and hi-tech are drifting further apart,' PC Pro claims. Author Charles Stross tells the magazine that he began writing a sci-fi novel in 2005 and 'made some predictions, thinking that in ten years they'd either be laughable or they'd have come true. The weird bit? Most of them came true already, by 2009.'" - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/feature... - Tristan Hambling

If the idea of turning consumers into true cyborgs sounds creepy, don't tell Intel researchers. Intel's Pittsburgh lab aims to develop brain implants that can control all sorts of gadgets directly via brain waves by 2020.The scientists anticipate that consumers will adapt quickly to the idea, and indeed crave the freedom of not requiring a keyboard, mouse, or remote control for surfing the Web or changing channels. They also predict that people will tire of multi-touch devices such as our precious iPhones, Android smart phones and even Microsoft's wacky Surface Table. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

"if you don't install this little chip we will leave you without insurance" ... ;) - A.T.

Researchers are developing silicon-and-silk implantable devices which sit under the skin like a tattoo. Already implanted into mice, these tattoos could carry LEDs, turning your skin into a screen. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Reminds me of this demo Human Monitor: http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Tristan Hambling

We so need nano/molecular manufacturing to hurry up and arrive so we can do cool stuff.. - Tristan Hambling

"Ever wondered how much the internet physically weighs? 498,438,559,990kg, according to CNET. To reach this figure, they added together public data on the weight of every computer, server and connecting cable. To this they added 6,075,000kg of iPhones, and over 6,800,000kg of Blackberries. Finally, they added the weight of 287,524 viruses and 85 billion+ webpages." - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Could nuclear power plants last as long as the Hoover Dam? - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

-- The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). These protein motors play pivotal roles in gene expression and replication, and are vital to the survival of all biological cells, as well as infectious agents, such as the human papillomavirus, which has been linked to cervical cancer. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

thats a triple wow! thx - Wildcat

What would happen if humans could deliberately create a black hole? Well, for starters we might just unlock the ultimate energy source to create the ultimate spacecraft engine — a potential "black hole-drive" – to propel ships to the stars. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Franklin Chang Diaz's proposed VASIMR rocket engine could create very versatile spacecraft. Not only does the plasma-fueled rocket have the potential to make a trip to Mars in just over a month, it could also help clean up space trash in Earth orbit. “Our goal is to be able to have a garbage truck that will be picking up all of these objects at various orbits,” astronaut Chang Diaz said in an article in the Global Post. The debris could put into an “orbital graveyard,” he added, “or we could actually launch them to the sun and drive them to the sun, which is kind of the ultimate, cosmic dump.” - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

There’s one major drawback to most proposed renewable-energy sources: their variability. The sun doesn’t shine at night, the wind doesn’t always blow, and tides, waves and currents fluctuate. That’s why many researchers have been pursuing ways of storing the power generated by these sources so that it can be used when it’s needed. The idea is to build an entirely new kind of battery, whose key components would be kept at high temperature so that they would stay entirely in liquid form. The experimental devices currently being tested in Sadoway’s lab work in a way that’s never been attempted in batteries before. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Entirely new paradigm for commercial use. - Eric Logan

The growing evidence that cells communicate with photons is generating an exciting new field of research. Last year, researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago showed that human cells in culture could synchronize their internal chemical processes even though they were mechanically, chemically, and electrically isolated from one another. The cells, it seemed, were communicating through the exchange of photons. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Boeing's directed-energy weapons (a.k.a. frickin' laser beams) have been getting some attention lately. The Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) is a C-130 that famously burned a hole through a car's hood, and the YAL-1 AirBorne Laser is a 747 that shoots a laser from its nose that is powerful enough to bring down an ICBM. But even cooler is the Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX), a laser that is mounted on a truck (which probably costs less than a 747, but who knows) and that can shoot down small aircraft, as shown in the picture on this article. (The Laser Avenger supposedly also has this capability). We live in the future!" - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Yesterday the LHC Hardware Commissioning Coordination Team announced the end of the 2009 Hardware Commissioning Campaign as all 8 LHC sectors were declared commissioned and ready for beam. A two day checkout period is now underway, which should have the LHC ready for beam at 17:00 Friday. Friday evening and night should see beams threaded around the machine in both directions. Saturday the plan is to capture a circulating beam in one direction, Sunday in the other direction. Celebratory drinks are scheduled for 17:00 Monday in the CERN Control Center. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Automated machine-generated captions is the big new trick, and is made to work with technology lifted directly from Google Voice's voicemail transcribing system. Basically it listens to the clips, transcribes the text, and auto-overlays the captions over the video at just the right moment. Google notes that it's not perfect, but that the "technology will continue to improve over time"--and, get this, you can even auto-translate them into other languages. But if you've already got a transcription written out, the tech is even more accurate--you just upload it and Google speech-recognizes the video and pins the relevant captions in the right place. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Planet by planet, here's a quick guide to how our vision of the solar system has changed in the past 30 years. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Scientists have shown off an effect not unlike that of the "phasers" in the show Star Trek - but it only works on tiny worms called nematodes. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

An enticing factor of Chrome OS is its instant boot time (the demo showed a 7-second boot time, though), quickly giving you access to its apps and data, all of which will reside in the cloud. That'll let you access your personalized OS, settings and apps from any computer, as long as it's connected to the internet. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Video Clip from the soon to be series SCI-FI SCIENCE: Physics of the Impossible (Series Premieres on the Science Channel - Tuesday, December 1 at 10 PM) - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

The use of augmented reality in our daily lives is still a few years away. The technology and business model hasn’t yet reached the point where it’s cheap enough for the masses. The entertainment business is a different story as they’ve been using augmented reality for some time now. My eyes were opened during the keynote speech at ISMAR09 by Mark Mine, a Walt Disney Imagineering Director. They use AR in a variety of interesting and imaginative ways (well duh! they are Disney afterall.) ,,,,,, - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet

Michael Dittmar has been getting some notice around the internet about a claim that uranium supplies cannot/will not be increased from uranium mines around the world Many people who are using his report do not have time to read through more than the highlights and assume that his work is thorough. - Tristan Hambling from Bookmarklet